Most Boastful, Least Accomplished

Spectator

We accept, perhaps to our own detriment, that politicians have a fairly distant relationship with the truth. Especially during campaign season, we know candidates are going to exaggerate any successes and minimize or completely ignore their weaknesses and failures.

There has always been a bipartisan tradition of truth avoidance. There is, however, one politician who has made this into a near art form. In his book, The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump refers to his lying as “strategic hyperbole.” He takes a step, or several steps, further when it comes to the difference between what he says and what he does. Fortunately, we have a record of both.

Take, for example, his opinion on our ongoing foreign entanglements. When he ran for president in 2016, Trump referred to his opponents as, “war mongers and America-last globalists,” according to Politico. The Guardian quoted another speech in which he said we have to “stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about.” He said in 2024 he would stop the “endless and stupid” foreign wars because “Great nations do not fight endless wars.”

He was mostly right, and, in a rare instance, should have listened to himself. Instead, he did nearly the precise opposite of his claims. We helped Israel destroy Gaza then further did their bidding with a foolish attack on Iran. We kidnapped and imprisoned the legally elected leader of Venezuela so we could steal their oil, and have threatened Greenland, Oman, Cuba, and Canada. Where we aren’t yet involved, we’re threatening to become involved, and it smacks of schoolyard bullying.

Trump also said he would “restore fiscal discipline,” “eliminate the deficit,” and “reduce the debt,” all pretty standard campaign pledges from a self-declared conservative. In a 2016 Fox News interview, he said he would completely eliminate the debt, “fairly quickly over a period of eight years.” Excellent, so how’s that going?

During Joe Biden’s four-year presidency, which the Trump camp likes to use as an example of profligate spending, the national debt increased $8.4 trillion, according to the Office of Management and Budget. During Trump’s five plus years, the debt has ballooned an additional $11.6 trillion, including a stunning $5 trillion just since January 2025. The Iran debacle alone has cost at least $37.5 billion, according to the Department of Defense, and those numbers are suspect as they have been underestimating those costs since we started that war.

Well, at least we’ll have low inflation and unemployment and consumer costs will be down, as Trump promised.

You might recall during the 2024 presidential campaign, and since, Trump has claimed repeatedly the country had “the worst inflation in history under Biden.” We did have a serious inflation spike during Biden’s presidency but hardly the highest in history.

Inflation was the worst at our country’s birth at just under 30 percent at the end of the Revolutionary War. It spiked again at 20 percent during World War I and again at 14.4 percent right after World War II and then 13 percent in 1980. Highest it ever became during Biden’s tenure was 9.1 percent, a long way from the highest in history. More importantly, it was 3.1 percent in January 2025, when Trump was inaugurated, and is 3.4 percent now. Additionally, the cost of gasoline, food, utilities, housing, and most everything else has increased significantly, and continues to increase, under Trump.

Then there’s the non-presidential activity we have to finance, too. You might recall during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign he leveled significant criticism at his predecessor’s golfing habits. Reuters reported Trump claiming, “I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf.”

Let’s check, since there are records for these things.

The total cost for all eight years of Obama’s recreation activities, including his golfing and family trips and vacations, was $97 million. The taxpayer cost for Trump’s golfing trips alone is $115 million and counting. Trump golfed an average of once every five days since being in office, almost always at one of his clubs in Florida or New Jersey. Obama, by contrast, played about once every 10 days but almost always at a local army base course.

Donald Trump claimed he would keep us out of foreign wars but has, instead, started an entirely new foreign war while continuing to expand our presence in the Middle East. He’s made enemies of former allies while cozying up to our real enemies.

His “fiscal responsibility” has been to spend and spend and spend while reducing the tax burdens of corporations and the ultra-wealthy. He didn’t end the deficit or reduce the debt, but he did manage to increase both and increase inflation and unemployment, creating an economy stuck in neutral spinning its wheels.

Donald Trump has managed to create the most boastful least accomplished presidency in our lifetimes. And that’s no lie.

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